Chevy Motegi IRL Qualifying

ROOKIE TAYLOR TOP CHEVY QUALIFIER IN JAPAN

MOTEGI, Japan, April 16, 2004 - Englishman Mark Taylor, an IRL rookie, was
the fastest of the five Chevy-powered drivers for Saturday's Indy Japan
300. Taylor qualified the Menards/Johns Manville Chevrolet Dallara in the
14th spot at 203.787 mph. His Panther Racing teammate Tomas Scheckter was
16th fastest at 202.952 mph. Red Bull Cheever Racing teammates Alex Barron
and Ed Carpenter qualified 19th and 20th respectively, and Robbie Buhl was
21st in the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Team Purex Chevrolet Dallara.

Honda drivers Dan Wheldon and Greg Ray will start on the front row
after qualifying at 205.762 and 205.722 mph respectively.

The egg-shaped 1.5-mile oval north of Tokyo has a challenging
configuration with sweeping turns in the first two corners and tight-radius
turns in the third and fourth corners. Gusty winds at the mountaintop track
added to the degree of difficulty.

"I've never been here before, and it's a completely different track
to anything I've driven on," said Taylor. "With the wind picking up, we
knew it was going to be tough this afternoon. The car's good - it's just a
matter of getting time on the track.

"We had some problems in practice yesterday, so it was good to get out
this morning and get comfortable with the car," Taylor continued.
"Therefore I was able to push it a bit more than I did yesterday. I was
happy with the qualifying lap, but there is always room for improvement.
We're going in the right direction, and that's what matters. Whatever
happens tomorrow, it's going to be a long, hard race and should be good
fun."

Scheckter rebounded from an accident yesterday in practice and qualified
his spare Pennzoil Chevrolet Dallara today.

"I didn't get Turns 3 and 4 right and tried to carry a little too much
speed," Scheckter said. "That cost maybe a mile and a half on the
qualifying lap. I'm disappointed because everyone at Pennzoil Panther
Racing and Chevy has worked hard. It's been a tough weekend so far, and I
just made it a little tougher for myself, but I think we'll have a good
race car."

According to GM Racing aerodynamics and chassis engineer Kevin Bayless,
the Twin Ring Motegi circuit makes unique demands.

"Motegi requires a compromise on chassis setups because in essence you
have two different tracks in one lap," Bayless explained. "It takes a
delicate balance to get through the slow end of the track as fast as you
can without sacrificing speed on the fast end of the track."

The Red Bull Cheever Racing team elected to change engines in Alex
Barron's Dallara after qualifying and consequently Barron will start at the
back of the field.

"We thought the car would be quicker than that," said Barron. "We made
some last-minute changes to the car, and we didn't have much time to
prepare. We got in the qualifying line and thought everything was going to
be OK. We had a really good balance with the car but didn't have the
speed."

Rookie Ed Carpenter recovered from a spin on the front stretch in the
morning session before making his qualifying run for his first race at
Motegi.

"We've been struggling a little all weekend," Carpenter conceded. "We had
a little accident at the end of the last practice session that set us back.
We tried a different approach for qualifying. We're going to continue to
work on our race car and hope for a better tomorrow."

"We had a lot of movement in the car in the corners," Buhl reported after
his qualifying laps. "We have to focus on having a good car with a setup we
can drive all day. We haven't been at the front so we have to concentrate
on being on a good race pace."

The Indy Japan 300 will get the green flag at 12:30 p.m. local time
on Saturday, April 17. The 200-lap, 300-mile race will be televised live in
the U.S. on ESPN2 at 11:30 p.m. on Friday night, April 16.

INDY JAPAN 300 QUALIFYING SUMMARY:
Pos./Driver/Engine/Speed
1. Dan Wheldon, Honda, 205.762 mph
2. Greg Ray, Honda, 205.722
3. Tony Kanaan, Honda, 205.690
4. Kosuke Matsuura, Honda, 205.629
5. Buddy Rice, Honda, 205.408

14. Mark Taylor, Chevrolet, 203.787
16. Tomas Scheckter, Chevrolet, 202.952
19. Alex Barron, Chevrolet, 199.835
20. Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 195.454
21. Robbie Buhl, Chevrolet, 195.358